forums.cubicle7.co.uk

A world of adventure in an age of sorcery and steam. Join the fight against the enemies of Queen and Empire. Battle ancient evils, uncover sinister plots, and root out predators stalking the cobble-stoned streets. Your tools are arcane magics, steam-driven marvels, and a stiff upper lip. Learn more at our website: http://www.cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/victoriana/

Queensberry Rules: Armour
There's been some discussion over whether armour is a bit too effective, especially when Gamesmasters wish to run grittier campaigns. Here is a set of rules I've been playtesting (which means 'unrefined!') for more dynamic and lethal combat.

1. All regular armour values (AV) are doubled. This value is now read as dice, not pips.

2. If multiple types of armour are worn, only the highest AV rating applies (yes, this is more for game balance than reality; if you want to stack armour and/or apply black dice penalties then go for it!).

3. If a character hits someone, the extra successes are added to the damage roll as dice, not straight pips.

4. Whenever a character takes damage, she rolls her AV (if wearing armour) + Fortitude dice. Any successes negate damage successes. As with any roll, a character can opt to trade 3 dice for automatic successes.

For Example:Pepperbox Pete fires his pistol at Hermetic Harry. Pete hits with 2 more successes than he needed. Harry is wearing a lined waistcoat, which gives him an AV 4 (it was 2 under the old system). Pete's pistol normally does 8 dice, but with the extra successes he now rolls 10 dice. He scores 4 pips. Harry has a Fortitude of 1 so he rolls 5 dice to defend. He takes 2 pips of damage.

Now injured, Harry decides to cast a steely skin spell on himself, which grants him AV 12. He does not get to add his lined waistcoat AV to it, so if Harry gets hit again he can roll 13 dice to try and shrug off the damage.

So in this system, apart from Armour of the Defender, a Damage role can give 0 Damage pips with very very bad luck, because 0 Successes were roled (because no automatic damage pips from the attack role)??

forummr wrote:So in this system, apart from Armour of the Defender, a Damage role can give 0 Damage pips with very very bad luck, because 0 Successes were roled (because no automatic damage pips from the attack role)??

Yes, but also remember in this system that AV also has a chance of providing no protection and that those successes scored in the attack roll can now explode.

Remember that every weapon (or punch) does at least one damage die regardless of Strength, so any hit does at least 2 damage dice. Yes, there's a possibility that you miss, but if you hit by at least two successes then you can also trade in the 3 dice for an automatic success. You can also use a fate point to get an automatic damage success (although it can still be beaten by an AV success).

I think the system is balanced as-is, but it's optional and still rough around the edges. If you want to try it with automatic successes intact please do, and let me know how it works! You could also rule that all attacks that hit do at least one pip of damage regardless of the damage roll.